Painting Headlight Surrounds

[fattox33]

Really just putting this up for those interested, I had an incident where I required a new headlight, ordered the headlight from the wreckers, and found out that I have 4 door headlights (didn't know the difference till recently, but the 4 door surround is chrome whereas coupes are all black surrounds)

Anyway, I decided to respray both surrounds in matte black enamel.

Steps to take:

1. Remove the headlights. Usually there is 1 bolt on the guard side at the top, and two nuts to remove inside the car on the inside. These nuts are in a difficult to reach position unless you have hands like a 6 year old, so advisable you don't drop shit while pulling them out. Usually the nuts are pretty loose anyway.

2. Preheat an oven to 100-110 degrees Celsius, fan forced works better.

3. While waiting, pull off all the little clips and metal bits, cos by Jove these things are gonna get hot as f**k to touch if you don't!

4. Once done, do one headlight at a time in the oven. They'll need around 20-30 minutes, I did one for around 25 and it was still a fair job.

5. Dismantle the headlight, I've found running a thin blade around the edge is the quickest way to loosen the Mastic, then using a screwdriver to push the sections apart. They join around the middle of the light, lengthways. Don't be afraid to get a little violent with it, just don't snap chunks off. Nobody sees the majority of your headlight anyway.

6. Once the headlight is apart, all you want is the front section with the surround. There are several small screws, undo these and you're in business. The surround takes a little steady manipulation to get out, but be easy.

7. Mask up the plastic clear section for the parkers.

8. Wash the surround with a degreaser, I used dishwashing liquid and it turned out fine.

9. Sand with 800 grit sandpaper, something smooth enough not to scratch the shit out of the plastic but rough enough to scuff away at it.

10. Wash off again just under warm water, leave to dry.

11. Use plastic primer to prime the surround, if you want, or be a rad kid like me and just shoot colour down over it.

12. Let that dry, and do any other coats. As a precaution, don't touch it with oily hands. Best bet is to hang it by one of the screw holes, or do it on a flat surface.

I've just finished doing mine both in Matte Black, I'll upload photos once they're finished and the front is all restored and such, and the lights are ready to go back in the car. Matte black should look damn good anyway, it'll be a slightly better option than a faggoty chrome one (sorry, chrome doesn't belong near skylines IMO) on one side and a glossy black on the other.

[R.3.2.G.T.R]

pics

[fattox33]

the photos I took don't really show a difference, i painted mine purely for cosmetics as some idiot had swapped GTS-4 headlights onto it, so when I ordered the new headlight it needed I didn't realise the difference and had one silver one black, but it looks similar to the normal headlights just a matte finish rather than gloss, and a bit lighter i'll have a chop tomorrow when the weather clears up at some better photos